Effects of Fertigation Management on the Quality of Organic Legumes Grown in Protected Cultivation

Abstract

Appropriate fertigation management plays an important role in increasing crop quality and economizing water. The objective of the study was to determine the effects of two fertigation treatments, normal (T100) and 50% sustained deficit (T50), on the physico-chemical quality of legumes. The determinations were performed on the edible parts of peas, French beans and mangetout. The trials were conducted in a protected cultivation certified organic farm. The response of legumes to the treatments varied between the cultivars tested. The fertigation treatments had a significant effect on the morphometric traits (width for mangetout and French bean; fresh weight for French bean; seed height for Pea cv. Lincoln). The total soluble solids and citric acid content have been shown to be increased by low soil water availability (T50) for mangetout. Fertigation treatments did not significantly affect the antioxidant compounds (total phenolic and ascorbic acid), minerals and protein fraction contents of legumes studied. Regarding legume health benefits, the most prominent cultivars were BC-033620 pea and French bean because of their high total phenolic (65 mg gallic acid equivalent 100 g−1 fresh weight) and ascorbic acid content (55 mg ascorbic acid 100 g−1 fresh weight), respectively. The results expand our knowledge concerning the nutraceutical quality and appropriate cultivation methods of legumes in order to make the system more sustainable and to encourage their consumption.

Snap Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) Response to Deficit Irrigation and Nitrogen Fertilizer and Relationships between Yield, Yield Component, and Protein Content

“…Ref. [54] showed that French bean plants' yield was severely reduced when fertigation was reduced by half (50%).…”

Horticultural Crop Response to Different Environmental and Nutritional Stress

“…The effect of environment conditions (temperature, rainfall, altitude, soil types, hail) [5][6][7][8][9], nutritional strategies [5,6,[10][11][12][13][14], water (stress, salinity) [5,8,12,15], container substrate of cultivation [16] on yield, yield traits and quality were analyzed in different crops in an open field [8,9,13,14,17] and greenhouses [5][6][7][10][11][12]15,16].…”

“…Different innovative strategies were presented that included protected structures, container type, cultivation techniques [5,10,16], symbiotic relationships [6,7], fertigation strategies [10] new agricultural management technologies (remote sensing, smartphone) [11] novel hybrids for breeding [12] spraying of Gibberellic acid [17], water supplies [8,15] and substrate [16] cover crops management [13] and stand reduction [9].…”

“…The experimental trial was carried out in a protected cultivation certified organic farm in the province of Almería, South-East Spain on four legume cultivars of Phaseolus and Pisum [10]. The objective of the study was to determine the effects of two fertigation treatments, normal (T100) and 50% sustained deficit (T50), on the physico-chemical quality of legumes.…”

Determination of Quality Parameters in Mangetout (Pisum sativum L. ssp. arvense) by Using Vis/Near-Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy

“…Previous studies have also revealed the nutritional potential of mangetout, not only for its protein content but also for its content of total soluble solids and antioxidant compounds such as polyphenols, ascorbic acid, fiber, phytoprostanes and phytofurans [12][13][14].…”